Yoshikazu Hayakawa

About

Yoshikazu Hayakawa is a robotics researcher whose work spans underwater robotics, assistive care robots, dynamic manipulation, and robotic sports systems. His early contributions include pioneering the use of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators in bio-inspired underwater locomotion, developing a Rajiform swimming robot that mimics ray-like propulsion — a paper that has garnered 78 citations and remains a landmark in soft actuator-driven aquatic robotics. Hayakawa made significant societal contributions through his development of RIBA, a nursing-care assistant robot designed to physically assist elderly and bedridden patients. His work on tactile-based motion adjustment and whole-body contact manipulation for RIBA (earning 52 and 42 citations respectively) addressed pressing challenges in aging societies by enabling safe, sensor-guided human-robot physical interaction. Alongside these humanitarian applications, Hayakawa pursued high-precision dynamic tasks, developing robotic table tennis systems that integrate aerodynamic modeling, spin detection, and real-time trajectory planning, demonstrating exceptional versatility in his research portfolio. His investigations into nonprehensile manipulation by cooperative robotic arms further underscore his commitment to dexterous, human-centered robotics. Collectively, his body of work reflects a researcher dedicated to bridging fundamental robotics theory with meaningful real-world application.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Development of a Rajiform Swimming Robot using Ionic Polymer Artificial Muscles

   78 citations · 2006
2. 2
   Tactile-based motion adjustment for the nursing-care assistant robot RIBA

   52 citations · 2011
3. 3
   Whole-body contact manipulation using tactile information for the nursing-care assistant robot RIBA

   42 citations · 2011
4. 4
   Paddle Juggling of one Ball by Robot Manipulator with Visual Servo

   27 citations · 2006
5. 5
   Robotic table tennis based on physical models of aerodynamics and rebounds

   22 citations · 2011
6. 6
   Racket control and its experiments for robot playing table tennis

   19 citations · 2012
7. 7
   Model-based control for nonprehensile manipulation of a two-rigid-link object by two cooperative arms

   15 citations · 2010
8. 8
   Racket Control for a Table Tennis Robot to Return a Ball

   13 citations · 2013
9. 9
   Fuzzy Nonprehensile Manipulation Control of a Two-Rigid-Link Object by Two Cooperative Arms

   12 citations · 2011
10. 10
    An online trajectory planning of struck ball with spin by table tennis robot

    11 citations · 2014

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links